Scottish by birth, Gordon was brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, from the age of five. With an injury prematurely putting an end to any hopes of a promising career in football, he went back to college to complete a course in hotel management.

Ramsay’s first years in the kitchen were spent training under culinary luminaries such as Marco Pierre White and Albert Roux in London, after which he moved to France where he worked in the kitchens of Guy Savoy and Joël Robuchon for three years where he was able to enhance his expertise in classic French cooking.

In 1998 at the age of 31, Gordon set up his first wholly owned restaurant, Gordon Ramsay, in Chelsea. On 19th January 2001 it won its third Michelin star. Eleven years on the restaurant is still the only three Michelin starred restaurant in London. In October 2001 Gordon opened Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's which won a Michelin star in 2003.

May 2004 saw Gordon Ramsay star in the Channel 4 series Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, later to be awarded a BAFTA and an International Emmy. Shortly after this, Gordon was given two weeks to direct a group of celebrities towards Michelin standard cooking in the ITV series Hell's Kitchen. A second series of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares was followed by the debut of The F-Word.

In January 2007 Gordon Ramsay Holdings opened Cielo at the exclusive Boca Raton resort in Florida. 2007 was also the year that Gordon opened his first pub, The Narrow, in a Grade II listed building on the banks of the River Thames in London’s Limehouse. Gordon has since gone on to open two further pubs: The Devonshire in West London and The Warrington in Maida Vale.

2010 was set to be an exciting year with the re-launch of Pétrus in the heart of Belgravia and The Savoy Grill at the iconic London hotel, and the group's first launch in Australia.